BFG 6800 GT and Ultra Questions: Need your input!

R

rickshobbies

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Jul 10, 2004
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I have a P4 3.06Ghz 533FSB machine and I am choosing between the BFG 6800 GT and the BFG 6800 Ultra.

From what I have read so far, it looks like on my machine, the cards will perform the same because I am CPU limited. At best, I am seeing a 7fps difference in favor of the Ultra.

I mostly play games at 1024x760 or 1280x1024 and want to use 4xAA and 8xAniso with all options turned on in games like FarCry, Battlefield Vietnam and upcoming Doom3 and HL2. I do not like to overclock, so I want to use stock speeds which partly why I chose BFG since the are factory overclocked.

I was hoping someone might know of some good reviews that show benchmarks between the two cards, especially with minimum fps and not just average. I don't think the 7fps will be noticable unless it shows up at the minimum fps. For me, there is $150 difference between the two cards so I need to make sure it's worth it before I go for the Ultra. The GT might make more sense.

If anyone can point me to some reviews that consider minimum fps between the cards, that would be great. I would also welcome anyone's comments who might have direct experience as well.

I have gotten some feedback on another forum and received some great feedback, but most people suggest overclocking which is something I want to avoid. I guess I just don't want to risk such expensive hardware. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask you guys over here as well!

Regards,

R
 
I am actually hoping to keep this rig with the new graphics card for the next year and then build a new PCIe rig at that time. So, I would either keep the Ultra until then or get the GT and consider an upgrade to the next refresh at the end of the year possibly.
 
Wow, that's great information!

I usually run my games at 1024x768 with 4xAA and 8x Aniso. Maybe I should try 1600x1200 with just 8x Aniso, if I am understanding you correctly. AA might now be required at all.

I noticed you have a P4 2.4. I wonder how much of difference a P4 3.0 would make to those benchies.
 
rickshobbies said:
Wow, that's great information!

I usually run my games at 1024x768 with 4xAA and 8x Aniso. Maybe I should try 1600x1200 with just 8x Aniso, if I am understanding you correctly. AA might now be required at all.

I noticed you have a P4 2.4. I wonder how much of difference a P4 3.0 would make to those benchies.
Click to expand...

no, i'm running my p4 at 260FSB, giving me about 3.1 ghz. AA is nice, but at really high rez you won't notice too much of a difference. The new Geforce 6xxx series really excels at running high rez...as a matter of fact, there won't be any reason for you to ever game at 1024x768 again unless yo ureally want to crank up the AA/AF. Even then I'm not sure it would make much of a difference, i haven'te tested that. I think the new 'standard' rez will be 1280x1024
 
rickshobbies said:
I am actually hoping to keep this rig with the new graphics card for the next year and then build a new PCIe rig at that time. So, I would either keep the Ultra until then or get the GT and consider an upgrade to the next refresh at the end of the year possibly.
Click to expand...
I would still get the GT for sure. So, when you are ready to upgrade, you can get two PCI 6800s! Considering you are only running 133fsb, 3ghz, and single channel DDR, you may not see much of a difference at all with the ultra compared to the GT.

Also, dont fear overclocking, OC is your friend. :p I just built a new pc for my mom to replace a 5 yr old Celeron that used to be mine that was overclocked since day one from 566mhz to 800mhz. It is still running strong and now my brother is using it for something. So, save your money and buy a GT and oc it faster than a ultra!
 
Go with the GT.

I had an Ultra on order and then got the GT because it was actually available at my Fry's Electronics (Glendale, AZ) last week.

It was a good decision. The thing runs amazingly well and I lucked out and can clock it to BFG Ultra speeds without problems. I canceled my BB order for the BFG Ultra within an hour of owning this card.

With the $100.00 savings you will have the cash for Doom3 and HL2 - assuming they do actually get released :)
 
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